Tag Archives: olywa

Stopped by the delightful Last Word Books in OlyWa (Olympia, Washington) – one of my faves in the world and holds loads of memories for me, as well as curates the “Uncle Weed Collection of Cannabis Books” (unofficial name). The location is onto the 4th in downtown Oly and is laden with both trad lit and all sorts of grassroots publications including from their in-house Last Word Press. Oh years ago they purchased the inventory of famed Port Townsend anarchistic publisher Loompanics iirc.

The proprietor Sky Cosby is as eclectic and energetic as they come running bookshop, publishing imprint/press, also circus activities, perma-culture homesteading and other renegade community activities and initiatives. Rather remarkable fella indeed.

Travel advice to Olympia:
As for Olympia … 4th Ave is laden with interesting shops and establishments i used to frequent. Some faves are Last Word Books (ask to see the Uncle Weed collection with my old collection of weedy books – not too shabby unless the guy doesn’t know where it is in the back), the Eastside Club Tavern – a divey bar where i met my sweetie, first hooked up wi-fi and made their website also took High Times there when they visited (look for the Matt Groening original sketch on the wall) – if you love microbews and don’t mind a bunch of goofballs and dirtbags, this is the place. Like the Mos Eisley cantina of Oly.

Next door is the Clubside Cafe where i got my podcasting start on Clubsidebreakfasttime.com, had the pre-Vancouver going away party and many a tasty meal. They are omnivoires and can make most of their specialties a veggie way. Tell Kenny and Kathryn i sent ya and you may see my buddy Cosmo there or at Olympia Coffee Roasting’s Cherry street cafe (try the Big Truck).

Next to that is Le Voyeur – more of a scenesters eatery/drinkery/music venue, farther along is the 4th ave tav and even further the Brotherhood tavern – both decent. Also New Moon Cafe, Santosh Indian food and Quality Burrito serve decent grub (IIRC).

If you are feeling fancy, then Water St. Cafe or Gardner’s are the choices for the rich hippies. Geez, i just about forgot Billy and Lisa’s incredible new restaurant Cicada. Go there or any meal and be pleased – really.

Oh yeah, if you have a car, drive out to Evergreen (a bit of a roll), follow the signs to “F Lot”, follow the edge of the lot to the back until you see a sign to the beach (there will prob be a few cars parked there), hike down, enjoy the stroll, soak in the legends and toke a doob on the beach. Many other noteworthy folks have.

Just last night, I was trying to tidy the closet in the studio/guestroom/boysroom – sorting out containers of art supplies, scrapbooks unassembled, frames seeking art and projects in process – making some room since guests from Japan were imminent.

Came across my old typewriter, a black Underwood beast which was my tool of choice when living my my VW bus in Salt Lake City trying to work my way through a creative writing program at U of U (to no avail). With cracked cracked and dried ribbon, the ole gaffer is looking a little wabi-sabi.

The sturdy unit pictured isn’t my typewriter, but one of the many at Olympia’s notable Last Word Books – a collective run by some damn fine dudes who keep the shelves stocked with the good stash and vend olden typerwriters to boot. I blab on about their noble efforts on the Postcards from Gravelly Beach podcast.

LWB is also the home of the “Uncle Weed collection,” a permanent shelf of hemp and cannabis info from classic tomes to useful magazines and journals (i’d best check up on that next visit).

This pic is from Terry Z’s photostream (the coffee-nista) as part of a sweet stroll down the signs of OlyWa’s 4th ave.

DaveO – feeling relaxed – reads from Kerouac’s Some of the Dharma, Bukowski’s Barfly and some of his own love junk while Christopher provides guitar and vocal stylings from the backyard at the Puget house.

From a backyard in OlyWa, Dave reads from Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” and a bit of hitch-hike narrative of his own recounting a trip up from North Carolina to Rhode Island during a cold November – backed with more smoking jazz tracks by Joe Williamson and colleagues in Banff circa 1990.

In Volume 7, Dave, chilling with sake and smoking jazz tracks, reads from Jack Kerouac‘s “Lonesome Traveller,” “Mexico City Blues” and “American Haiku”; Gary Snyder from “The Backcountry”; and haiku from masters Issa Kobayashi and Basho; and finally his own original haiku and haibun.

In Volume six, DaveO sits with ducks at Olympia’s Capitol Lake on a windy day and reads from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Confessions” and offers a bit of discourse on transparency, plus reads two more original “Letters from Russia” epistolary literature.

Popular Science magazine ranked Seattle and Olympia as number one and two respectively for having the highest national percentage of Internet customers.

The magazine credited the cities’ relatively high number of free wireless access points as a major reason for the high rankings. It also credited the two cities for bucking a national trend for wireless hotspots to charge users a fee for the service.

Olympia-based Zhonka Broadband maintains several free wireless spots in the South Sound region. Company spokesman Dave Olson said it allows the company to showcase its high-speed DSL technology while businesses with the hotspots find that they help to attract customers.